Basketball: Monday Notes, Dissent, and Werner Von Braun

Learn across disciplines. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra promotes a "positive culture of disagreeing." Progress needs collaborative disagreement. We don't always see what is right in front of us. 

A culture of excellence evolves in differing ways. UNC soccer coach Anson Dorrance posts Excellence Is Our Only Agenda  in the locker room. Aerosmith held weekly "Dare to Suck" meetings. "(Steven) Tyler said, ‘Each one of us brings an idea that we think is probably terrible, and that we are embarrassed that we even have the idea. But we present it. And nine times out of ten, the idea is actually terrible. But one time out of ten you get Dude Looks Like a Lady or Love in an Elevator.’" The State Department has operated the "Dissent Channel" since the Vietnam War to get opposition policy responses. Breadth of ideas asserts a better process. 

In the 1960s, Marshall Space Flight Center Director Wernher von Braun solicited weekly "Monday Notes" to encourage engineers to share their ideas, successes, and failures.  

Roger Launius writes, "Von Braun asked each of his senior managers to send him once a week a one page, paragraph style description of each week’s progress and problems. Submitted each Monday morning, it dealt with the previous week’s events and von Braun encouraged his reportees to offer totally candid assessments, with no repercussions for unsolved problems, poor decisions, and the like."

"After von Braun left as director in 1971 his successor stopped making comments on the notes; they ceased to be useful for top to bottom communication."

Groupthink produces inferior results. It's a one-word oxymoron. A group silences or dismisses a critic's valid criticism. Decades ago I was part of a leadership group that submitted a pay proposal inferior to our competitor's. I countered, "Many of our best employees will run, not walk, out the door." Predictably, they voted with their feet.  

I was in a Navy "All Hands" meeting over thirty years ago where a senior physician shared his opinion. The ranking officer replied, "Captain, if I want your opinion, I'll ask for it." No more questions ensued. 


Is what matters executing a plan well or my way? Effective teaching and feedback systems are critical to having a plan come together. 

How does this apply for our basketball programs? 

1) Superiors have different expectations, values, and constraints than we have. 
2) Resource concerns are unavoidable (e.g. practice gear, practice time).
3) Divergent opinions on techniques and tactics may exist, too. 
4) "Stale" basketball can result from too casual or too intense approaches (overwork). 
5) Players and families will always have concerns about minutes and roles. Sometimes it spills over into concerns about recognition. 

What would it be like to have each assistant, each player, and even parents submit Monday Notes? Could we subjugate our ego for the good of the whole and let reason stand above excuses? It could be a disaster or amazing. 

Getting input from many sources lends perspective to our progress and problems. Welcome comments and criticism to foster improvement. Dare to fail; dare to disagree. If we don't ask, we can't know. 

Lagniappe: Taste in basketball is like taste in food or music. When we haven't survey tasted, our opinion, right or wrong, is less informed. 






"The System" is basketball in hyperspeed. It's a viable style but is it the way to teach youth basketball? Should we expose our teams to it as an aid to transition teaching? 

Lagniappe 2: I'm watching the Tony Hawk MasterClass on Skateboarding. You won't see me on a skateboard, but I love the ethos of the sport. Competitors RALLY around a kid trying a new trick. They want her to know the feeling of success. Basketball can use more of that. 

Basketball: Role Playing - All In and Off Book Plus Elite Lagniappe on Cutting

Excel in your role. You are not LeBron James or Elena Delle Donne. Grow your game to expand the possibilities. 

In Basketball Methods, Pete Newell simplifies the possibilities for a post player as scorer, facilitator, or screener. Your role is what your current coach says it is. 

Years ago I saw a player reject an open three. Her father was upset. "Why didn't she shoot?" I answered, "she's one for nineteen this year from three. She made the right play." Some parents have "coaches' eyes." Most do not. They have a different, highly valid investment to respect. 

Coaches have a vision for the "actor." Fulfill that vision, get the part. Spike Lee was casting Do The Right Thing when Halle Berry auditioned for a role as a low-rent harlot. Lee sent her home four times saying that she didn't look the part, not bad enough. 

Exceed the expected vision to multiply your time on screen, closeups, and lines. 

Be off book. Know your lines, the sets, the options, and the "why" behind the what to do. Assert KNOW HOW over KNOW THAT. 

You send a message when you don't know the terminology, the plays, and offensive and defensive techniques (e.g. pick-and-roll coverage, closeouts, forcing, etc.). You lack full engagement and it's inconsistent with wanting a bigger role. Control what you can control.

For the coach to ADD VALUE, players need to be ALL IN. You need to be ready when the coach asks, "what do you need to do your job better?" 

Sam Jackson says "if you can't know your lines in an audition, why should the director believe you'll know the part?" 

Lagniappe: "This is the great challenge: to maintain passion for the everyday routine and the endlessly repeated act, to derive deep gratification from the mundane." - Chef Thomas Keller, The French Laundry Cookbook (cross-discipline principles)

Lagniappe 2: via @PickAndPopNet

Why is rejecting P&Rs important? @RyanPannone with a great point that extends far beyond rejecting P&Rs...

How many defenses are built for failure?

If their coverage is predicated on getting you to the screen, what happens when you reject? How often do they practice it?

— PickandPop (@PickAndPopNet) June 15, 2020

Drew Hanlen "dumbifies" the read. Pick-and-roll is more than the ball handler driving, hitting the roller, or shooting. It's more than the roller screening and rolling, popping, or rescreening. It's an explosive dance with a myriad of options. 


Lagniappe 3: SPECTACULAR video clinic from Celtics' assistant Scott Morrison. Pro tip: Smart TV for Youtube, watch on the big screen. 




sponsored by Basketball Immersion @BBallImmersion

Amazing stuff, including "cutting the mouse." Coach Morrison shows the best players in the world doing their thing. 
- Cutting may create opportunity for you or move a defender that allows advantage for the ball handler. 
- "Defenders are taught to see both but a lot of time they don't." 
- "All these cuts are designed to get layups or corner 3s." 
- They key is drawing help and both players recognizing it. 
- "The corner...in the NBA is valuable real estate." 
- "You always have to respect the guy at the basket." 

Note: points/possession is highest in the NBA off cutting

Basketball: Friday 1-3-1 Episode 8 (Drill, Concepts, Play). Conditioning Tests and More

It's a day late but improved. Learn by reading and studying both inside and outside our domains. The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. It won't always be the most informative. 

Some coaches say we shouldn't scrimmage too much. JVG and Jim Crutchfield probably would argue the opposite.  

You're here because of basketball but your knowledge outside of basketball may provide sustainable competitive advantage. 

Friday 1-3-1 (drill, concepts, play) asks us to think beyond our horizons and outside the box. 

Drill. I'll call this HER MAJESTY as a competitive shooting drill for the girls I coach. There are three lines and the shooter shoots, gets the rebound and passes to the next line (counterclockwise). Making the shot allows for efficient rebounding and more shots. Play the game to 21 or over a set time with the high scorer winning. 

Concepts. Conditioning is vital in a sprinting game. What determines fitness? 

The purest measure of fitness is the VO2max, maximal oxygen consumption. We measure this by collecting expired gas during exercise on a cycle or a treadmill. The higher the value, the more exercising muscles are using oxygen breathed in and delivered via the circulation (heart and blood vessels). 

The highest performances have largely been among distance runners, cyclists, and cross-country skiers. A Serbian study showed that guards had higher VO2max than centers. Small number of participants and low VO2max compared with other studies would be criticisms. 

High fitness correlates with low cardiovascular risk. A practical aerobic fitness test is reproducible and passing corresponds to game fitness. 

Here are several reproducible fitness tests. 

1. Easy (Laps). In high school soccer, we could "place out" of additional conditioning by running two laps around the soccer field in under 1:50 at the END of practice. 

The "pitch" was around 100 yards by 55 yards, so two laps is 620 yards (a third of a mile is 1760/3 yards). That's about a five minute mile pace after practice, combining a modicum of speed and indurance. 

2. Harder (Cooper 12 minute run). Ken Cooper studied exercise in Air Force officers. He found that a 12 minute run correlated about 90 percent with complex exercise testing. Subjects can run on a track or a treadmill and 

Calculate the VO2max from distance run (above) or use a "normative" table (below). 

3. Hardest. Lee Rose trained and measured players using 220 yard sprints. Guards, forwards, and centers would go off at 1 minute intervals with the expectation of completing each "set" at under 40 seconds (after training). They would have about two minutes recovery time before repeating. You can make it more competitive by adding the total individual time for each set. 

4. Over the top. The Celtics run what is known as the "Boston Marathon," three minutes of 94 foot sprints up and down the court. Delonte West is the record holder, although legend has it that he set the record BEFORE a practice. 

Do not try to reproduce these results without medical supervision. 

Play. This simple action creates a give-and-go from the corner. 

Lagniappe:  beautiful action shared from @BBallImmersion (Chris Oliver)

This zone quick hitter concept creates a seal entry option, or a backdoor cut. I would suggest a 3rd option would be flare the PG off the top after the high post entry as that side will be cleared out by the seal and backdoor coverage. Edit made better & easier with @KlipDraw pic.twitter.com/PcMPTnVUB0

— Chris Oliver (@BBallImmersion) June 19, 2020

Lagniappe 2: Lee Rose's Winning Basketball Fundamentals is an underrated text. He starts with his six core principles - 

1. Conditioning.
2. Play hard. 
3. Play smart. 
4. Execute the plan. 
5. Unselfishness (play together). 
6. Maximize strengths and minimize weaknesses. 

Basketball: Miscellaneous

I managed to delete today's post and can't recover it. So here's a cheap imitation.

Basketball: What You Can Learn from a Drag Queen

RuPaul, star of Drag Race, shares success stories in his MasterClass. 

At twenty-eight, RuPaul hit bottom and was sleeping on his sister's couch. A friend gave him a plane ticket to New York and told him to "remember who you are." He returned to New York, resumed his career as a dancer and was named "Queen of New York" within a year. He realized that he had to fight for his place in show business.

Most of us never had the silver spoon. We know fighting for our place, academically, athletically, economically, and socially.   

"Love your losses." Everyone fails. Mickey Mantle struck out 1713 times. But he had 536 homers, was a twenty time All-Star, and helped author seven World Series championships. "It's what you do when you're not striking out that counts." 

"Failure is an essential part of self-discovery." Failure sticks to us when we don't learn from our mistakes. Failure challenges us to become stronger and more resilient. 

"Failure represents an opportunity to improve." Failure taught RuPaul what not to do and what works for him. He wasn't selected at an audition, but the casting director remembered him and that turned into another gig. Not winning a role but leaving an impression is a recurrent theme in the entertainment industry. Not starting shouldn't stop determined players. "It's not who starts but who finishes." 

RuPaul says, "be of service to humankind...that will sustain you." As coaches, serve our players, preparing paths for them to succeed.  

Another theme of RuPaul's is mentoring. Steve Kerr preaches mindset, mentors, and culture. Usher urges aspiring performers to study their mentor's mentors. For him, that meant James Brown and Gene Kelly. My high school coach studied Coach Wooden and shared the Pyramid of Success with us in the locker room in the early 1970s. Dean Smith's mentor was Dr. Phog Allen, whom I haven't studied enough. Allen has been called "The Father of Basketball Coaching." 

Learn from luminaries in many fields. 

Summary:

- Remember who you are.
- Fight for your place.
- Love your losses.
- Failure is an opportunity to grow. 
- Find mentors that work for you. 

Lagniappe: Perimeter defense




Don Kelbick shares his philosophy of perimeter defense including the "head snap" method of denying the back cut. I learned (and have mostly taught) opening up to the ball as an alternative technique. I don't think "opening" is better, just easier to learn, and allows continuous vision of the ball (but not the player). 

Lagniappe 2: from Bob Knight, The Power of Negative Thinking

"Winning with talent isn’t necessarily the way to go about things. There are some things you can do and some things you can’t do. Elimination of mistakes is more important than the will to win."

Lagniappe 3: Do the right thing not the most popular thing.

Basketball: Focus on Your Top Priorities

"He is everything you want in a player." That invites a fall from grace. 

When Red Auerbach went to scout Dave Cowens, he left early, signaling a lack of interest. "Red Auerbach went down to watch him play one day and liked what he saw. Liked what he saw so much that he threw down his program and walked out at halftime in disgust, just so the other scouts wouldn't think he was interested in the player who later became the fieriest in the NBA." Nothing was further from truth. 


Here's a list (left behind by an NBA scout): 

NBA SCOUTS–PLAYER ATTRIBUTES

1.Does he “fight back” or have resiliency as a competitor?
2.Does he come from a winning background or culture?
3.Can he defend multiple positions?
4.Does he cut hard?
5.How does he take a screen? How does he set a screen?
6.Basketball IQ: Feel and understanding of the game?
7.How does he attack a close-out off the dribble?
8.Is he consistent and reliable night-in and night-out?
9.How does he bounce back from a poor performance?
10.Is he “comfortable being uncomfortable?” A pressure player?
11.Is he a quality teammate?
12.How does he impact and affect winning?
13.Can he remember plays and take instruction?
14.Is he around the ball? Does he try to rebound defensively?
15.Does he shy away from contact?
16.Is he a whiner and complainer?
17.Can he “pull and kick?”
18.Does he have an edge? Have something to prove?
19.Does he approach the game as a professional?
20.Can he play his game at a top speed?

We rarely get that guy (or girl). Size, athleticism, and skill attract the scouts. But it takes more to close the deal. 

This returns us to Buffett's 25-5 rule. Make a list of your top twenty-five priorities. Highlight your top five. Buffett advises us to focus on our top concerns.  

Author David Mamet repeats it another way, "A man distracted is a man defeated." It's both burden and opportunity to ask young people to be professional. It means commitment, discipline, and sacrifice beyond that of peers. 

We decide who we are as a coach, player, and person. 

Summary: 

- Remember the Buffett 25-5 rule - Know what evaluators are looking for in a player. 
- Decide whether you can pay that price. 
- What does professional mean at your level? 
- Stay focused on your top priorities. 
- Never regret being a great teammate. 

Lagniappe: Development is not just kid stuff. 

“I think so many times with a lot of young players they want to come for development and they just want to focus on their offense. They’re going to be on defense way, way more than they’re going to be handling and shooting." - Billy Donovan

Lagniappe 2: Defending Cross Screens




Communication triggers excellent defense. 

Basketball: Fast Five Plus - Coaching Innovation from Bricks to AI

"Imagination is more important than information." - Albert Einstein 

We all know what the picture shows. But how would we use it? 

- Face a house

- Build a fireplace

- Paperweight

- Nutcracker

- Hammer

- Door stop 

- Water conservation device (toilet tank)

- Yard edger

- "Window opener"

- Weapon

- Deadfall small game trap

- Secret hiding place (false bottom?)

As coaches and players, use our imagination. Some creativity is epic. 

1. Allen Iverson had width and quickness that set his crossover apart. 



2. Manu Ginobili mastered misdirection steps. 



3. Hakeem Olajuwon had a vast repertoire of separation moves. 



4. Coach Tarkanian used the Amoeba (1-1-3) Defense at UNLV as innovation. 

5. USF with Phil Woolpert ran the "UCLA" three-quarter court press before UCLA. Bill Russell said, "Imagination leads to innovation leading to differentiation." 




6. Changing principles increased St. Joseph's offense about 20 points/100 possessions. 

There are rules (in the video). I'm not sure this is ideal for "teaching offense" but perhaps that's the innovation. 


A brick is not just a brick. 

Lagniappe: See the world from different perspectives. 

Lagniappe: Make defenses pay for overaggressiveness. 

Lagniappe 3: "How can I help you do your job better?" 




"What is the common factor in all my failed relationships? Me." 

Basketball: Five-0 Series (No task is too big when done together.)

We all have "oh, no" moments. In our first "preseason" game a few years ago, a team immediately showed a "Five Out" set. I yelled, "watch the back door cut" and they immediately scored on a back door cut. 

What ideas does the Hawaii (Five - 0) make you think about? 


"No task is too big when done together." 

In the developmental setting with middle schoolers, 1) we don't want robots and 2) we want actions going to the basket as a priority over getting three-point looks. Use small-sided games to teach it, with or without constraints. 

"A Level" Thinking: ADJUST, ABSOLUTES, AWARENESS. 

Adjust to maximize personnel fit to scheme.  

Absolutes:
1) Set up cuts.
2) Cut hard, pass hard.
3) Sprint to screen.
4) Get everyone involved and defense occupied (weak side screening).
5) Attack either side. 


Awareness:
*Remind players that aggressive defenses invite screening and back cuts. 

Two-man game actions

Three-player actions 

Open a gap for isolation (left) and morph into Horns (right)

Pass and screen away (left) or pass and slip away (right) 

Use small-sided games to teach it, with or without constraints? 

Advantages include using the action to "teach how to play." 


Lagniappe: "Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier." - Colin Powell

Lagniappe 2: via Chris Dorsey

5 out offensive 🏀 webinar coming soon‼️What teams should I dissect
M/W College - NBA/WNBA⁉️🤷🏽‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/dJ3HBoOnOs

— Chris Dorsey (@GentsCoachD) June 13, 2020